G Suite passes six million paid businesses, Meet sees huge surge
G Suite and Google Meet both saw impressive growth as more people work from home
Google has revealed that its G Suite bundle of productivity software had over six million paying businesses in March which is up from five million in February of last year.
The search giant's parent company Alphabet also recently disclosed Google Cloud's revenue for the first ever as it looks to grow beyond advertising which made up 83 percent of the company's revenue in 2019.
In an interview with CNBC, vice president and general manager of G Suite, Javier Soltero commented on the software's impressive growth, saying:
- Google and Microsoft offer free teleconferencing tools to combat coronavirus
- Google hikes G Suite prices
- Also check out our roundup of the best video conferencing software
“The business of G Suite is growing at an incredibly healthy and, frankly for me, surprising rate.”
Despite is recent growth, Google's G Suite still faces stiff competition from Microsoft's Office 365.
Google Meet
With millions of people working from home or studying through distance learning as a result of the global pandemic, G Suite's video calling service Google Meet also saw increased adoption. In fact, the service has 25 times more users than it did in January, according to Soltero.
Last month Google decided to extend some features of Meet, such as allowing 250 participants in video calls and live streaming for up to 100,000 viewers on a domain, to help people stay connected during this trying time. These features are normally only available to G Suite Enterprise customers but the search giant decided to offer them to all of its G Suite customers until July 1, though this deadline has now been extended until September 30.
Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter
Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!
According to Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, Google Meet racked up two billion minutes of video calls in March and during that time, the service grew by 60 percent day over day.
Surprisingly, G Suite's video calling service saw the most usage on Saturdays which is unusual as it is primarily meant to be used in the workplace.
- We've also highlighted the best online collaboration tools
Via CNBC
After working with the TechRadar Pro team for the last several years, Anthony is now the security and networking editor at Tom’s Guide where he covers everything from data breaches and ransomware gangs to the best way to cover your whole home or business with Wi-Fi. When not writing, you can find him tinkering with PCs and game consoles, managing cables and upgrading his smart home.